The “Bain Report” Articles that Affect You and Your Family for Monday, April, 23, 2012

The “Bain Report” is a weekly publication for those citizens of Michigan who are concerned with the representation they are receiving from their elected officials. The purpose of this report is to educate and inform the citizens with pertinent articles and legislation that affect the families of Michigan. If you or anyone you know wishes to receive the “Bain Report” reply to rabman13@aol.com with add me to the weekly “Bain Report” in the subject line with your name and e-mail address in the body. Your email will be added to the list of those Patriots, Activist, and Concerned Citizens here in Michigan who receive the “Bain Report” published every Monday. For those currently receiving the “Bain Report” and wish to be removed from these mailings please reply to above e-mail address with remove me from your list in the subject line.

Opinion By R Al Bain

Will the citizens of Michigan stand up and do the right thing? As a conservative Republican of over 35 years I am appalled and ashamed of what my once proud Republican Party has become. Recent events have reveled an even more disturbing pattern of cronyism and corruption within the Republican Party. We’ve had notary-gate, dele-gate, mortgage-gate, and possibly hooker-gate with not only the “Secret Service” but with the leader in the Republican Senate?

Two different sources have alleged that our Republican leader in the Michigan Senate had extra marital activities with a woman in which he is old enough to be her Father! These allegations have come directly from his son and I believe them to be the Truth! Past unconfirmed rumors about marriage infidelities were just that but with the recent alleged allegations there may very well be credibility to those rumors? There are those that would say what someone does in their private life is their business. As an elected official representing the public I would strongly disagree.

Our elected officials should and must be held to a higher standard of integrity, principles, and moral values as a representative of the citizens of Michigan. If they can’t adhere to those character traits with their own wife of over 30 years they would have no qualms about not upholding those to the very citizens they are supposed to represent! Senator Richardville has zero Integrity, Principles, and especially “Moral Values” that I’m sure with the recent “Divorce” filing his wife could attest to! When we have a Republican who does not adhere to the Principles. Traditions, and Values that the Republican Party was founded upon then I would suggest, “Houston We Have a Problem”.

During the past five national elections, Republican Party leaders, candidates and politicians have made “traditional values,” including family, moral and religious values, key structural planks in their platform in addition to other planks with various names and mantras, containing what Republicans consider to be the “right” form of marriage. Senator Richardville not only “fails” these Planks as a leader but as a Roman Catholic as well!

Senator Randy Richardville is Re-Call Target of Fellow Republican

State Senate Majority leader Randy Richardville is being targeted in a new recall effort by another Monroe County Republican. Jeff Andring of Newport, “former chairman” of the Monroe County Republican Party, this week filed proposed petition language in an attempt to recall Richardville, R-Monroe, who represents part of Jackson County in the Senate.

So is this what we send our elected officials to Lansing for? Private parties. Free meals. Even gifts. It sounds like a dream come true, and for some lawmakers, it really is. Welcome to the world of lobbying, it’s the side of politics you don’t normally get a chance to see! For the first seven months of the year, lawmakers have enjoyed hundreds of dollars in meals paid for by special interest groups. And the grand prize goes to? It went to Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, who’s been eating quite well in 2011, cashing in on almost three-thousand dollars in free lobbyist meals, so far.

That’s not counting his all expense paid trip’s to the Hollywood Emmys and the Daytona 500 courtesy of the special interest who returned the favor for favorable legislation he coned his colleagues into passing such as the Movie Producer and Studio subsidies along with two time Speedway winner Michigan International Speedway all at taxpayer expense!

The statement in this article that Governor Snyder is in a tricky spot politically because he’s considerably more moderate than Republicans in the Legislature is pretty scary! Why do I say that? Because Senate Majority leader Randy Richardville in 2004 told a Monroe County Republican Party Executive committee member that nobody sit’s to the left of me – right to his face!

Michigan’s most effective governors have typically projected more patriarchal authority; when they went out of their way to say they weren’t interested in a legislator’s initiative, it usually meant that whatever they weren’t interested in was dead.

But Snyder is more like a well-meaning but distracted parent, too preoccupied with his own to-do list to pay much attention to what the children (legislators) are doing. Not everyone in Lansing shares Snyder’s priorities, but few are confused about what’s important to him. But the more Snyder fixates on a narrow band of fiscal and economic development objectives, the more Republican legislators feel licensed to have their nutty way in every other policy realm.

Michigan lawmakers are headed back to the state Capitol after a two-week spring break, with the state budget remaining their top priority. Top Priority?Where have they been? All the citizens of Michigan have seen out of our legislature is tax breaks for big business, taxing pensions, and proposing gas tax increases and vehicle registration fees (tax) along with mandating insurance companies to cover Autism that will surely raise every Michigan citizens insurance policies! This “break” is but just one of many they have throughout the year! Can you say part-time legislature as to limit the damage they can do?

2010 Senate Bill 1369: Extend Michigan International Speedway subsidy Introduced by Sen. Jud Gilbert (R) and co-sponsored by Senate Majority leader Randy Richardville on June 2, 2010, to push back from 2012 to 2017 the year by which Michigan International Speedway must make certain infrastructure improvements for which the state will provide its owners with a $1.5 subsidy/tax break. http://www.michiganvotes.org/2010-SB-1369

2008 Senate Bill 1264: Increase Michigan International Speedway tax breaks (Public Act 572 of 2008) Introduced by Sen. Randy Richardville (R) on April 17, 2008, to increase from $25 million to $30 million a refundable Michigan Business Tax credit for upgrades at the Michigan International Speedway. Refundable means the state would write the firm a check for the difference between the credit and its actual tax liability, if any. http://www.michiganvotes.org/2008-SB-1264

Michigan Senate Passes Changes to Minor-in-Possession Law

Here’s a piece of legislation that will surely be conducive to creating the much needed jobs in Michigan! http://www.michiganvotes.org/2011-HB-4393 The legislation would amend the Michigan Liquor Control Code to exempt a minor from a violation involving buying, drinking or possessing alcohol if he or she sought medical treatment or accompanied another person who sought medical treatment. So essentially this is rewarding law breakers by giving them a loophole. This is akin to telling a person convicted of drunk driving if you go to AA you would be exempted from that violation.

Introduced by Sen. Arlan Meekhof (R) and co-sponsored by Sen. Randy Ricardville (R) on October 6, 2011, to prohibit school districts from making an agreement with a union that has more that 50,000 members (meaning the Michigan Education Association) which requires employees to pay dues or fees to the union as a condition of employment. In other words, to establish a “right to work” law for most Michigan public school employees. Note: Detroit school employees belong to a different union, so this so-called “right to teach” bill would not apply to them. http://www.michiganvotes.org/2011-SB-729

The above Bill shows a correlation between SB 992 (a mortgage bill tailored for one) http://www.freep.com/article/20120401/COL04/204010479/Brian-Dickerson-In-Lansing-a-mortgage-bill-tailored-for-one where Sen. Arlan Meekhof introduced it and Sen. Randy Ricardville co-sponsored it! Does anybody see a pattern here? Looks like Meekhof is Richardville’s stooge! SB 729 was nothing more than using taxpayers dollars as to send a personal political message to the “MEA” by Senator Richardville don’t try and do to me what you did to Representative Paul Scott in regard to a re-call attempt!

Michigan’s 8.5% jobless rate hits lowest level since August 2008

Fuzzy math, propaganda 101. All this unemployment number tells us is that unemployed folks have either exhausted their benefits or quit looking for work! March Unemployment: 8.2% (U.3) Definition: Occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks, 14.5% (U.6), Definition: Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons 22.2% (SGS), Definition: The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated “discouraged workers” defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing (BLS) Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates of level U-6 unemployment.